Drive Your Channel Productivity Globally

Over the past decade — and particularly over the past five years — many channel marketing automation SaaS startups have entered the marketplace with the hope of garnering the interest of channel organizations looking to drive more demand through their channel. The first-generation tools rightfully focused on a missing gap — marketing resources at the channel partner organization — and addressed the promise of channel marketing automation by providing ready-to-launch, co-branded assets and campaigns for partner organizations to use. However, even with as they began to deploy a number of marketing automation tools, partners found they still needed to perform certain activities that require marketing resources or the allocation of resources from another area. As a result, with very few exceptions, most of these deployments delivered lackluster results. Organizations had switched channel marketing automation vendors in search of a better tool or platform but failed to address the need for a major behavioral shift

As vendor organizations trying to sell through the channel deploy channel marketing automation platforms to enable their partners to drive demand from their prospect and customer base, vendors may become frustrated by the lack of adoption of these state-of-the-art tools. Why don’t more partners use channel marketing automation platforms to take advantage of the various tools and assets vendors provide? In other articles we have discussed in detail a variety of factors that may be at play in the lack of adoption among partners (see, for example, Why Partner Marketing Fails Most of The Time), but in this article we will focus on one specific solution that in many cases can solve the problem. First, let’s quickly define what a channel marketing automation platform is and list its basic components. Then we will explore why partners do not use many of these tools and why broader adoption is always a challenge. A state-of-the-art channel marketing automation platform should be able to address both inbound (e.g., se

Over the past decade or so, many large organizations have deployed channel marketing automation tools involving partner relationship management (PRM) and partner marketing management (PMM). If you are currently considering whether to make such an investment, there are a few things you need to think about before you make that jump. You may have the budget, but is making an investment in channel marketing automation the right next step for your channel management team? Let’s take a few minutes and discuss what channel marketing automation is, and then we will lay out a framework for you to use to figure out whether this makes sense for you or not. Most organizations selling through the channel need to recruit, engage, enable and manage their partners. A channel marketing automation solution focuses primarily on the marketing aspects of this equation. Whether you are marketing to your partners to recruit and engage them or marketing through those partners to engage prospective buyers of your products or services

Over the past decade or so, many companies selling to the channel have invested in some sort of marketing automation tool or platform for their channel activities. More recently, over the last five years or so, many of these vendors have come to realize that a direct marketing automation platform doesn’t work that well for a multi-tenant, channel-based marketing infrastructure. As a result of that, several large organizations—especially in the technology space—have begun to invest in channel marketing automation infrastructure. Most first-generation channel marketing automation platforms had some form of email tool, a web syndication tool and some basic event capabilities. However, buyers have moved online rapidly, and the ability to deploy a complete integrated set of tactics has become absolutely essential for any channel marketing automation platform to be successful. The next-generation platform—such as ZINFI’s partner marketing management platform—provides a core set of capabilities that not only make it

If 2015 was known as “The Year of the Video”, 2016 has also delivered consistently on that promise. Virtually every social media network is pouring money into their video capabilities. In social marketing, videos are being used to create interest, raise brand awareness, generate leads and spark online engagement. Companies everywhere are flocking to video in social marketing, whether it’s on YouTube or Facebook or Vine or Instagram or wherever. And while it seems obvious that video will eventually become a part of our mandatory marketing repertoires, the question burning for most is when and how we make the jump to video marketing. Below are 10 ways to know if you are ready for video: You have the means (both time and money) to publish videos regularly on a schedule. An important thing to remember about social marketing is that it takes time to build an audience. To build a brand, raise awareness and spark online engagement, you have to be willing to show up in the same place regularly. In the case of vid

It is no secret that content is still king in the world of digital marketing. There is absolutely no way to get around the need for content to boost search engine optimization (SEO) over the long haul. Everyone is trying to get attention for their products and brand by leveraging SEO strategies and tactics. The name of the game is to improve your website’s page ranking by driving visitors to your site. Digital marketers know they can boost SEO through paid banner ads and keywords, but unlike content, these are short-term wins. A paid SEO campaign only lasts as long as you pay for it. Content, on the other hand, has teeth and staying power. A unique article with strategic keywords can create organic SEO that lasts as long as it is posted on your website. Great digital marketing executives are quickly learning that there is really no way to escape the “content war.” Not only do you have to continually develop and distribute content just to stay in front of your audience, but the content you create also needs to

Email marketing is still a very effective method of lead generation, even though other methods like social engagement, content marketing through thought leadership and group dialoguing on networking sites are rapidly gaining momentum. The tried-and-true solution of email is still about as personal as you can get for a first-time touch. But this is not “spray and pray”…one template will not work for everyone! Not everyone likes pizza, so make sure you also have a hamburger or grilled cheese handy. When developing a cold email template, keep in mind that you are often going to create a set of them—to be used for various audiences or approaches—in order to add some custom touches and answer important questions. Most marketing automation platforms and solutions these days have emailing tools that allow you to segment your mailing list and deliver different versions of your email marketing template(s) based on audience type. Here are 5 tips, in the form of questions that your recipient might ask themselves (and th

Over the past few years there has been a lot of excitement about partner relationship management (PRM) process development and automation. However, this segment hasn’t really grown as fast as the marketing automation platform (MAP) or customer relationship management (CRM) segments. What is holding back the growth in deployment of partner relationship management (PRM) automation? Here are some key factors that present barriers to deployment and are frequent causes of failure: Short-term focus. Most channel organizations are busy managing activities by the quarter, and typically very few dollars are invested in mapping channel processes that require redesign and redevelopment to build out a state-of-the-art partner relationship management (PRM) infrastructure. The channel is a great way to go to market, but when the market changes (as it inevitably does) and organizations fail to remap their channel infrastructure accordingly, they struggle to stay relevant. We have seen this repeatedly over the years acros

Over the past couple of decades, two major channel management automation platforms have attracted widespread attention: partner relationship management (PRM) automation and partner marketing management (PMM) automation. However, the most important area in channel automation—an area that has been neglected and remains a major opportunity—is partner sales enablement or partner sales management. If you are considering an investment in channel automation, you should look at partner sales enablement automation first. Why? It’s simple: If you can make your current reseller even 10% more productive (selling more at the same channel investment rate), the result will be a huge impact on both your top and bottom lines—and it can happen almost instantly. Before we delve into the details, let’s very briefly discuss partner sales enablement and how you can make this happen, either through the infrastructure you have today or by investing in a partner sales enablement automation platform. Partner sales enablement has two c

Recently I saw a bumper sticker on a slow-moving vehicle on the highway that read, “I am not in your HURRY!” While I respect the slower-paced lifestyle of this driver, it made me think of making another bumper sticker: “I am not in your LAGTIME.” It’s all about perspective. I am not looking to rush you, so please move out of my way. To get respect, you have to give respect. Each of us has our own intentions and behavioral choices, and we need to see things from each other’s perspective in order to communicate and get the proper results. This is a critical principle to keep in mind as a marketer as you consider your B2B lead generation efforts. When preparing your marketing approach to B2B demand or lead generation, whether in channel marketing or any marketing area, remember that you are trying to create awareness and interest based not only on the merits of your product or service, but also on how your prospect might perceive the product or service from their own value set. It’s also important to keep in min

Channel management is complex. We have explored this complexity from a variety of perspectives in previous articles. However, let’s not forget that with the right channel management solutions you can tame the complexity and truly unleash the power of the channel. That’s exciting. When you begin thinking about various types of channel marketing solutions, it’s helpful to think in terms of two key categories: the channel marketing automation platform you will deploy and the channel marketing services you will require. Together, these two components should be designed to work together to provide an integrated lifecycle management approach to channel marketing. In this article we will explore the core components of channel marketing solutions that you should consider to be successful. So let’s begin with channel marketing automation. How does it fit in with the overall channel marketing solution? Lifecycle management in channel marketing really needs to address several distinct components: partner recruitment, pa

Let’s begin this discussion by taking a stab at defining through-channel marketing automation (TCMA). What does it really mean? Basically, it’s about enabling channel partners to generate leads by using marketing assets and a set of marketing tools provided by a vendor or company. The entire purpose of through-channel marketing automation is to enable partners to create brand presence by leveraging the vendor brand and associating it with their own brand, and then driving demand for a set of solutions that include offerings from the vendor. For a through-channel marketing automation (TCMA) platform to be successful, it must have a core set of application modules. In this article, we’ll take a look at what each of those application modules must be able to do and how they can help you automate processes to drive profitable growth at both the local and the global level. Before you can begin to market through partners and make them aware of the campaigns and assets and tools are available, you need to be able to

What is channel marketing automation? It’s about automating core channel marketing process steps that allow vendors to recruit, onboard, train, enable and manage their partner network or channel network on a worldwide basis. “Partner” refers to resellers, systems integrators, value-added resellers (VARs) and others in the technology or manufacturing channel, or dealers, agents and other types of partners in other industry segments. With the advent of SaaS-based automation software, it is now quite easy to deploy worldwide channel marketing automation in a step-by-step manner. However, to be successful in this effort companies need to think through the core areas they want to focus on first, and then deploy the channel marketing automation tools sequentially. The most logical way to begin is to align the automation needs with the business needs of the organization. But before we talk about that alignment, let’s take a step back and take a look at the overall partner lifecycle management, which is independent o

Inbound marketing is all about bringing in leads. Right? The whole purpose is to drive demand and begin communication with prospective buyers of your product(s) or services(s). In discussions of inbound marketing best practices, a lot of attention and strategy is aimed at driving more traffic to your website. Get more outreach, appeal to a broader audience and get the right people to come to you! Everybody wants to get more traffic to their content and website, but a critical focus that is often overlooked is converting those people once they DO come to you. What is the point of opening the flood gates and having crowds of people stand in your lobby if all they do is mill around and refuse to enter your offices and talk to you? The goal of lead generation is conversion—getting people to take action and reach out to you. Driving loads of new visitors via inbound marketing is necessary, but the most important prospects are those who are already on your site! So, if you think of new traffic as your gold currency

We‘ve already explored in multiple earlier articles the complexity of channel management. It is even more complex for companies that are selling globally, because there is tremendous variability in requirements and parameters from region to region. We’ve also written about how global market requirements can have a tremendous impact on channel policies and programs, and on how a company goes to market. In this article we will explore how a unified approach to channel management can greatly improve channel performance. Before we delve into the solutions, however, let’s talk a bit about the sources of complexity in channel management, particularly on in the global context. First of all, a channel management infrastructure needs to account for different types of partners—whether they are alliance partners, go-to-market partners, solutions and services partners, or training partners—and how they form different parts of the ecosystem. Channel management needs to address the unique requirements of these different pa

Each of us knows what it feels like to receive a cold call and know that the caller is reading questions from a uninspired script. While from a process standpoint it makes sense to have a standardized example of what you expect from your callers, for maximum effectiveness we should always be looking for new ways to innovate and improve cold calling scripts. What many people fail to realize, however, is that there is a key ingredient most companies completely overlook when writing a cold calling script. Over and over again, we have heard the expression, “People follow other people,” but that statement is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sales and marketing techniques. The very best salespeople and marketers understand the implications of the statement and how to apply that knowledge, which is that people will instinctively be attracted to and follow the values of other people. While it may not be feasible for a company looking to do telemarketing to allow callers to go completely off-script, it is

When social marketing arrived in the landscape of sales, many thought that it was a phase or a fad that would eventually fade out. While the landscape will continue to evolve with social media innovations, I think it’s safe to say social marketing is here to stay. A huge majority of corporations are now deeply engaged in social marketing, and the funding and incentives to stay online are not going away. In an age where humans are increasingly forced to live online to conduct regular daily tasks and business, it only makes sense that they would congregate in communities. Social media is a combination of two common practices: socializing and marketing. Social activity reflects the deep human need for communities and connection, while marketing tries to catch the attention of individuals and communities with the intent of making money. While many online communities in social media are free to join, they could not exist if they were not somehow sustainable and profitable. Never underestimate the platform’s abilit

B2B marketing has a reputation for complexity. Because B2B transactions occur between two businesses, with diverse groups of people on each side, B2B marketing requires some savviness to get decision-making parties on the same page. Unlike a traditional direct consumer sale, a good B2B marketing campaign will often deploy multiple touches and use multiple channels to communicate a relatively simple message in an effort to unify decision-makers and raise brand awareness. While B2B marketing will always be a little complicated, there certainly are ways to simplify your marketing efforts and “up your game.” Below are 10 ways you can sharpen you B2B marketing game: Educate your buyer. With the invention of the Internet, most B2B buyers and their associate teams are more than halfway through the buying process before your salesperson ever meets with a customer. While a good marketer always wants to have clear calls to action, consider educating your buyer—the new version of B2B marketing “foreplay.” If your team

What is the most important part of your job as a B2B marketer or business development professional in the tech space today? Generating leads! They are the lifeblood of your business model and the food that feeds your revenue pipeline. It’s a lot like a restaurant: Marketers get the public to take notice and walk through the front door, business development gets them to sit at the table and sales takes their order and serves them their dinner. But if the marketers can’t find potential customers with an appetite, there will be no sales. B2B lead generation is dependent on good digital marketing strategies. Inbound marketing has the staying power of unlimited presence and searchability on the web, whereas outbound marketing is usually time-restricted, expiring when the budgeted funds run out. That’s why you need a good strategy that helps you find the best prospects. If done right, your digital marketing can net you targeted audiences and response to conversion. Here are some tips to follow when deciding how to

The only thing that is consistent in the competitive landscape of the global marketplace is that things are constantly changing. While supply and demand will constantly shift, the one thing that won’t ever change is the need to implement strategic selling techniques. Strategic selling is about learning to focus your formal and informal initiatives to gain new business in your prospective market. While we have all read countless tips  for strategic selling initiatives, it’s interesting that most people forget the two main goals of any sales process. The first goal is simple: Get into the head of your customer. As a salesperson, you need to understand your target market inside and out. Goal number two is a bit harder: Create a sales strategy or recipe with a process that is always visible, logical and repeatable for continued success. Keeping those two primary goals in mind, let’s take a look at five frequently overlooked strategic sales techniques that can greatly add to your sales game and help you improve yo